This dataset contains information regarding patented methods for the production of hydrogen via methane pyrolysis. The processes described in scientific literature can be divided into three categories: thermal, plasma and catalytic decomposition. [1] The same categories are found in the patent literature. The most popular and currently used methods for making hydrogen are coal gasification, steam methane reforming (SMR) and water electrolysis. Methane pyrolysis can be seen as a suitable alternative and environmentally friendly technology; It consists in the thermal decomposition of methane, with the formation of solid carbon (instead of CO/CO2) as reaction by-product. The catalytic methane pyrolysis has been widely investigated. Iron and carbon-based (carbon black, graphite, carbon nanotubes) catalysts are considered the best candidates for industrial implementation.[2] The following patent databases used have been used for data mining: - Espacenet (a free of charge database provided by the European Patent Office), accessed on Sept. 10, 2022 - Orbit Intelligence (FamPat database) (a fee-based platform provided by Questel), accessed on Sept. 10, 2022 The file titled “Methane pyrolysis _ Espacenet” contains information related to Title, Inventors, Applicants, Publication number, Earliest priority, IPC, CPC, Publication date, Earliest publication, and Family number. The file titled “Methane pyrolysis _ Orbit” contains information related to Priority numbers, Application numbers, Publication numbers, Priority dates, Application dates, Publication dates, Title, Abstract, and Current assignees. Patent searches were carried out by means of keywords and classification/indexing codes. [3, 4] Both IPC (International Patent Classification) and CPC (Cooperative Patent Classification) systems were used.

{"references": ["S. Schneider et al., State of the Art of Hydrogen Production via Pyrolysis of Natural Gas ChemBioEng Rev. 2020, 7, No. 5, 150 \u2013 158 https://doi.org/10.1002/cben.202000014", "N. S\u00e0nchez-Bastardo et al., Methane Pyrolysis for CO2-Free H2 Production: A Green Process to Overcome Renewable Energies Unsteadiness. Chem. Ing. Tech. 2020, 92, No. 10, 1596 \u2013 1609 https://doi.org/10.1002/cite.202000029", "Barbieri, M. Patent Prior Art Searches: Basic Principles and Strategies. Preprints 2022, 2022050054 (doi: 10.20944/preprints202205.0054.v1)"]}

Value of the dataset: this dataset can be helpful to for prior art searches, technological trends, and forecasting the development of new technologies.